Fed court hearing same-sex custody case in Conn.

AP

Published 1:30 pm, Sunday, January 26, 2014

HARTFORD -- A federal appeals court will travel to Connecticut to hear several cases, including one involving a Virginia pastor convicted of helping a woman and her child flee the country and avoid a child custody dispute with her former lesbian partner.

The New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is sending a three-judge panel to the University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford on Monday, under an occasional practice to hear cases across its territory of Connecticut, New York and Vermont.

Pastor Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Va., is appealing his conviction in Vermont federal court in 2012 for aiding in international parental kidnapping. His 27-month prison sentence is delayed while he appeals.

Authorities say the woman and daughter Miller helped are still believed to be in Nicaragua.